Jonah’s Prayer

2 ^[a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God ^(A)from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,

¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the ^(U)fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Prayer for Protection, Guidance, and Pardon.

A Psalm of David.

Ministry of the Twelve

9 ^(A)Now He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and the power to heal diseases. ² And He sent them out to ^(B)proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. ³ And He said to them, “^(C)Take nothing for your journey, ^(D)neither a staff, nor a ^[a]bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two ^[b]tunics. ⁴ And whatever house you enter, stay there ^[c]until you leave that city. ⁵ And as for all who do not receive you, when you leave that city, ^(E)shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ And as they were leaving, they began going ^[d]throughout the villages, ^(F)preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

^7 (G)Now ^(H)Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that ^(I)John had risen from the dead, ⁸ and by some that ^(J)Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. ⁹ Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And ^(K)he kept trying to see Him.

^10 (L)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. ^(M)And taking them with Him, He withdrew privately to a city called ^(N)Bethsaida. ¹¹ But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and He welcomed them and began speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and curing those who had need of healing.

Five Thousand Men Fed

¹² Now the day ^[e]was ending, and the twelve came up and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get ^[f]something to eat; because here, we are in a secluded place.” ¹³ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ (For there were about five thousand men.) But He said to His disciples, “Have them recline to eat ^(O)in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so, and had them all recline. ¹⁶ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He blessed them and broke them, and gave them to the disciples again and again, to serve the crowd. ¹⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied; and ^[g]the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve ^(P)baskets full.